Who are you?
by SkylineGlobe
Summary: Jaune had always envied his fellow peers. The thoughts of not being good enough had plagued his mind. But when he started to get letters from a unknown person, what will he do? Sorry I suck at summaries.
1. Frustrations

Jaune Arc sighed in disappointment. He slumped on a nearby bench with a towel over his head. The blonde had just spent nearly 3 hours in the training arena, fighting training droids on a saturday morning.

Weiss had dragged her team to Vale to do some shopping, with Ren and Nora joining them as the residential hammer wielder had finished their supply of pancakes. Again. Pyrrha had left a week prior for another advert with Pumpkin Pete, and all of that meant that the goofy leader of team JNPR was alone until the afternoon.

_'Only lasted 5 minutes longer.' _Jaune thought in disappointment. He was always disappointed. Although he did improve over the course of the first semester, he was envious of the gap between him and everyone else. They did gave him words of encouragement by saying that he'll be their equal in no time, but the knight can see the lies in their words. Or at least, that's what he thought.

"A fine morning isn't it, Mr. Arc?" A familiar voice snapped him back into reality from his thoughts. He turned to where the voice came from, to see Ozpin, leaning on his cane and coffee mug at hand as usual. "Uhh...Indeed. How can I help you, professor?" Jaune replied before getting back on his feet

and resting the damp towel around his neck.

The elderly man took a moment as he turned to the droids before looking back at the blonde. "Apologies for interrupting your training session." He apologized. Jaune lets out a chuckle. "It's fine, sir. Everyone is out of town, so I thought I could do some personal training to keep myself busy. Although...I don't think it's working out for me."

The headmaster had raised his eyebrows over the blonde's claim. "And what makes you say that?" He earned a sigh. "Because I've barely improved. No matter how hard I train, I'm not getting any better. Sure, I might gotten stronger than when I first started at Beacon, but seeing everyone else leagues ahead of you...and seeing everyone doing the very thing you're struggling at with ease...It just hurts...Y'know?"

Jaune sighed again as he ran his fingers through his blonde locks, finally lifting the burden that has been straining him from the very beginning. "I understand." The white haired man spoke up. "It is quite disheartening when you've worked so hard, yet it seems you're getting nowhere. I've seen several other students go through this sort of experience like you in the past, Jaune. And the most common outcome is either them ending their lives with their own hands, or getting help."

"Don't be afraid to ask for help. Especially from us teachers. Our task is to help you students afterall." Ozpin continued before taking a sip from his mug and walking out of the arena. Jaune pondered over what they had discussed about before retreiving Crocea Mors laying down on the ground and continuing to train.

**OXOXO**

Little did he know that a lone female figure sitting on a wheelchair was watching him from the shadows, watching every single move he had made and heard every single word he said in his conversation with the headmaster.

She placed her hands on the wheels and strolled out of the training arena but stopped at the doorway. The figure turned her head back to Jaune and glanced at him once more, before chuckling and leaving the blonde to his business.

_"You're an interesting fellow, Jaune Arc."_


	2. Choice

**_(SET A WEEK AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER)_**

A frustrated groan can be heard from the dorm of team JNPR. Jaune sighed as he slumped on desk with his face resting on the open pages of his textbook. 'Why is history so hard?!' He mentally exclaimed before turning to his sights onto the rest of his team. Ren was casually flipping through the pages as he had understood almost everything in history class. Nora on the other hand was snoring loudly as she had placed her books to the side, already giving up before she even tried and took a nap on Ren's shoulder.

Ren did reassure him that he'll have Nora study later when she wakes up and that he should be focusing on his own studies. Pyrrha had already finished early as usual, so she left to get her team some snacks from the cafeteria. It's been fifteen minutes since his partner had left the room, and he was sill stuck on same oumdamn page! 'General Langdon led his troops through the dark forests of Anima, only to be ambushed by a group of Mistralian soldiers. They quickly fell back but were suddenly attacked from behind- Screw this!' The blonde yelled inside his head as he was about to flip all the items on his desk in frustration,but suddenly stopped at the thought of Pyrrha chastising him for making a mess in their dorm.

Just as he was about to reread the same paragraph for seventh time, his partner finally came back from her trip to the cafeteria with cookies, crackers and some chocolate milk (Requested by Ren as he didn't want Nora to drink coffee). The ginger haired hammer immediately snapped awake at the sound of the door opening and somehow snatched the cookies and chocolate milk from the plastic bag the spartan was holding. Pyrrha and Ren chuckled at her antics as the red haired resident of team JNPR distributed the snacks.

"Er..Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke up, earning his attention as he was munching on some crackers. "There was a letter taped on the door for you." She handed him the letter with the words 'To Jaune Arc' written in elegant handwriting. "Ooohh~ Sounds like Fearless Leader has gotten a secret admirer!" Nora exclaimed before chugging down the chocolate milk. Jaune ignored her remark and opened the letter, only to see one line that is also written in elegant handwriting.

**_Sometimes, explanations from others exceeds what is written in books._**

The blonde's eyebrows rose over the message. "What does it say?" Ren asked as Jaune showed them the letter. Nora slumped onto the floor with a sad frown on her face. "It's not a love letter..." She muttered in disappointment. Pyrrha's heart twinged in jealousy and anger as her secret crush took the attention of mysterious girl. The knight pondered over the message for a few moments fishing his scroll out of his pockets and went to see some videos regarding the history topic they're studying. Surprisingly, the lesson wasn't really complicated. After just watching one video, he had grasped at least half of the key points.

* * *

Over the next few days, the blonde kept on getting more letters regarding tips and tricks. These range from simple ones like 'Get more sleep', 'Drink more water', to complex ones being several samples of a proper diet, exercise regimens to tactics, battle stances, and techniques and even plans for a pistol side arm.

Like a regular person, Jaune kept on thinking about the identity of the sender of these letters. Weiss was obviously ruled out, as she couldn't stand being five feet near him, even though he had stopped courting her after the dance. Blake was also out of the window, as she had never spoken a single word to him since they had entered Beacon. As for Yang, she just treated him as a friend because he was Ruby's first friend, so that automatically makes him her friend too. Speaking of the little reaper, Ruby was probably the only one who has the possibility of being the sender, as they both have a strong bond with one another and didn't hesitate to help each other out. Jaune kept on thinking about it over and over as he made his way to combat class with the rest of his team.

"Hey uhh...Fearless leader? Ya got mail." Nora's voice snapped him back into reality as a folded piece of paper was on his seat. The blonde knight sighed before taking it and reading its contents, earning that it only has one written line in elegant handwriting as usual.

_**Don't let the words of others distract you from your goals.**_

Jaune's mind pondered over the message, while the rest of his team had already gotten the meaning behind the line and mentally sighed over their leader's confusion. The four of them quickly sat down and greeted their sister team, team RWBY before silencing themselves as the combat instructor, Glynda Goodwitch had entered the room. "Alright class, first match will be...Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester." Cardin smirked as he got the chance to humiliate the poor blonde in front of everyone. Again.

The knight groaned as he was going to get himself destroyed again by the bully of Beacon. Jaune's mind wandered over how he'll be put to shame again as he made his way to the locker room. He sighed before opening the metal door and retrieved his sword and shield, Crocea Mors, seeing another letter taped on the back of the locker. _'How on Remnant do they do this so quickly?'_ Jaune thought as he took it and opened it up.

_**The enemy will never expect you to do the unexpected.**_

The blonde thought about the sentence before he stuffed it into his pocket and heading out to the arena. His so called 'Arch-nemesis' (Dubbed by Ruby and Nora because it sounds cool) was waiting for him on the other side with a smirk plastered on his face as he saw Jaune enter. Glynda had her eyes on her tablet scroll for a few moments before turning to both males and taking a few steps back.

"Ready to get wrecked, Arc?" Cardin questioned with a sneer. "Begin!" The teacher declared as the aura levels of the combatants are displayed on the billboard above the arena. Giving Jaune no chance to his snarky remark, Cardin charged forward, fueled with egoism as he brought his hefty mace close by his side instinctively. His opponent went to defense out of fear, lifting up his shield in a somewhat swift motion and held it close to his chest. Jaune was too little too late as the distance between the two of them has decreased to two or three feet apart. Cardin's sneer turned into a grin as it was more clearer than ever.

He swung the mace, clashing it hard against the poor defense that Jaune had put up, causing the blonde to lose his footing and stumble back, his mind could only do one thing at the moment. Panic. Cardin had just made his first move and from that single attack, he knew that he had already lost.

Jaune desperately tried to block every swing made by Cardin with his heater shield, but Cardin always managed to land every single blow, slowly chipping away his aura with little to no effort. His grin reverted back into a smirk, as Cardin did a powerful upward swing, sending the blonde flying several feet away from himself. "Ouch..." Jaune muttered in pain as he quickly got back up to his feet, only to have his eyes widen at the bully's smirk as his opponent was holding a familiar piece of paper.

It was the letter. It must have flown out of his pocket while he was in the air due to the bully's last attack. The brunette quickly skimmed the contents of the letter, before looking back at the blonde with an even wider smirk that has 'You're screwed.' written all over it. "Looks like you've gotten yourself a secret admirer, Jauney - boy. Hope she's not watching, or she'll dump you because of how pathetic and useless you are."

Those words made the blonde froze. Was she watching? What will she think of him after his defeat? Will she start to send letters filled with death threats and insults? Negative thoughts surged through Jaune's mind as he didn't even know that he had subconsciously fallen to his knees while Cardin slowly walked up to the blonde. "Give up. It's for your own good."

Just as the blonde was about to speak up, his voice had somehow left him and was unable to say a word while his mind suddenly brought itself back to a message from one of the letters. '_Don't let the words of others distract you from your goal.'_ "What's wrong, Jauney - boy? So scared that you can't even talk? Don't worry." The brunette said as he went to his knee and whispered to Jaune's ear. "I'll be a good friend for once and end the match for you." He stood back up and turned to Glynda. "Professor Goodwitch? Jaune here said that he will concede the-" "I'm not conceding."

The bully immediately turned his head around to face the blonde who was standing back up. "I beg your pardon?" He was met with one of the most coldest glares that he had ever seen, possibly even capable of rivaling Weiss's own. "I said, I'm not conceding the match." Cardin simply scoffed and raised his mace. "It doesn't matter. You'll lose just like usual." He raised it high and swung it with power, aiming to hit the left side of the blonde's face. Jaune quickly shuts his eyes, preparing for the pain that he was about to receive. A few moments later, still no pain. He slowly lifted his eye lids and saw that Cardin had stopped his swing. However, it was like he was frozen in place. Jaune turned to his left to see that the mace had stopped midway through its trajectory course. Turning to his right, he saw that his team and Ruby and Yang who were cheering on for him in the sidelines, had also somehow froze.

His mind processed what was going on when it was interrupted by a soft and gentle feminine voice. _'Looks like you've finally decided to fight back.' _He was about to speak up when the voice cuts him off. _'You shouldn't be worrying over what I'm saying, Jaune Arc. Rather, you should be focusing on what I'm about to ask you.' _"Er...Alright." Jaune somewhat agreed. 'Do you want to be strong, no?' Wait, what?

_'Your family expects you to fail. So you came to Beacon to prove them wrong, no?'_ It was true. He wanted to prove himself. He wanted to prove that he is capable of being a hero, just like his father and grandfather, as well as the many other warriors in his bloodline before him._ 'Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Glynda Goodwitch. Cardin Winchester. As well as many others. They all expect you to fail. They all deem you worthless and a waste of space. They expect you to fail, just like your family. Am I wrong?' _Jaune glanced at those whose names were listed by the voice. Sure enough, they pay little to no attention to him and their faces had 'He's gonna fail again' written all over them, just like the voice had stated.

_'If you really do wish to make them regret saying that you're useless, then all you have to do, is to work hard. Let the anger of their insults drive you. Train and study hard. Step up when times are the toughest. Push forward. Never give up. Sure, these lines might be a bit overrated, but they're true. Life isn't fair, Jaune. Life doesn't give us blessings every now and then and will sometimes bully you. But if you can achieve these things, then you will achieve greatness. So let me rephrase the question.'_

_'Jaune Arc, are you gonna step up or not?'_

* * *

**_So what do you think? Please review!  
_**


	3. Decision made

Jaune lowered his head, looking at the ground as he pondered over what his answer should be. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be his partner's equal, and fight alongside her with everyone else, instead of being the damsel in distress or the one who sits back and does nothing because he'll only be dead weight. The answer was obvious to everyone really. He raised his head, as he had flames of determination burning in his eyes of ocean blue.

_"Of course I will."_

Mere moments after his decision was made, everything slowly returned to normal. "W-w-what..?" Cardin stammered as his mace was blocked by the heater shield strapped on his enemy's forearm. "This will be the last time," Jaune said in a cold and menacing tone as he shrugs the bully's weapon aside. "that I'll lose to you." He finished, growling the last line and finishing his sentence before slamming the bottom part of his shield onto the brunette's face.

Those who were watching winced in pain as they imagine what would happen if _they_ were the ones down there. "Ouch..." Yang muttered, earning several nods in agreement as they all felt bad for the Cardin, even if he was the biggest bully of Beacon. Those who were minding their own business now had their sights on the match. "Go Jaune! Kick his butt!" "Break his legs!" Ruby and Nora cheered as they stood from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Cardin was struggling to defend or counter his opponent's onslaught of relentlesa attacks. He never knew Jaune was this nimble and powerful! Ranging from bashing his shield to the poor bully's face, to striking one of his limb with Crocea Mors, to simply kicking or punching him. And it was clear to everyone, that Jaune's not giving the person who blackmailed him a chance at all.

_'__The enemy will never expect you to do the unexpected.'_

"Okay, you've had your fill Jaune-boy, but it's time for things to go back to normal!" The bully snapped as he shoved his fist up the blonde's gut, knocking him back and making the knight stumble a few steps back. "This is the end, Arc!" Cardin yelled before fishing something out of his pocket, revealing it to be a fire dust crystal. He smirked as he sets it to the hilt of the mace, igniting the morning star at the top.

_'Oh great. What do I do now?' _His opponent thought as he turned to the aura display above them. They're both in yellow, with Jaune's a bit lower at sixty five percent, while Cardin is at seventy. His mind suddenly warped back to a lesson taught by Pyrrha about 2 weeks during one of their practice sessions at night.

* * *

_"You can transfer your aura into your weapon?" He asked, warning a nod from his partner. "As long as you transfer enough, you can make your sword sharper and lighter. It'll give you an edge in battle. However, if you transfer too much, then there's a chance that you'll get hurt because the aura drain." Pyrrha explained as she went to the side where their weapons rested._

_Th__e spartan took Miló in its xiphos form, closing her eyes as her aura was seen flowing from her hand to the weapon. __Jaune watched in amazement as the blade of Miló was shining._

* * *

Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated as his aura travelled from his hand to the blade of Crocea Mors. After thinking that it's enough, he reopened his eyelids and went to an offensive combat stance as his sword was reflecting a gleam of light.

The two of them rushed forward and clashed, almost as if they were driven by pure instinct. A mere moment after both of their weapons touched, a spark was ignited between the morning star of Cardin's mace and the blade of Jaune's sword. That spark slowly grew into a ball of fire before bursting, sending both combatants flying several feet away from each other and knocking them out cold. All the spectators of the match were stunned for a few seconds after seeing the outcome of the match. Glynda quickly snapped out of her trance and called in a medical team to dispatch Cardin and Jaune to the infirmary.

She didn't notice that the aura levels of the two fighters were both equal in red, indicating that the match was a draw.

* * *

Immediately after Glynda had dismissed the class, teams RWBY and (J)NPR sprinted out of the classroom and quickly rushed to the infirmary. Worry clouded their minds as they traversed through Beacon's large hallways, bumping into several students before finally arriving at Jaune's medical room. The seven students quickly catched their breath (Except Ruby because she used her semblance) before entering the room to see their fellow blonde unconscious, lying down on the hospital bed with several machines attached to his body.

They failed to notice professor Peach (who is the school nurse. Yang owed Blake 50 lien due to a bet) before she cleared her throat, earning the attention of everyone in the room. "I'm assuming you're all his friends?" She questioned, getting nods. "Well, is Jaune gonna be okay..?" "Ruby squeaked quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The nurse/professor sighed as she turned to Jaune to see his face. He looks so peaceful, almost as if he's just sleeping. "He's in a coma. All of his wounds are slowly being healed thanks to the aura boosters. It'll take a while for his aura to replenish as he has a lot of it, but he'll be fine."

"That explosion..." Pyrrha muttered, making professor Peach turn to her. "What caused it?" "That is caused by a supercharged fire dust crystal." The occupants of the room turned their heads to where the voice came from to see Ozpin, leaning on his cane, coffee mug at hand and in the doorway. "Ms. Peach, I believe you have other things you need to take care of." The headmaster pointed out. "Oh yes...Thank you for reminding me." She thanked him before walking past the white haired man and out of the room, leaving him with seven equally curious students.

"What's supercharged dust?" Ren spoke up, immediatelt asking the question that everyone was about to ask. "In a nutshell, it's dust infused with aura." He answered, turning to the ninja of team JNPR. "Not much is known about this topic, and it is also prohibited for research by Vale's government about five months before you entered Beacon."

"Well, why is it forbidden?" Weiss questioned as she raised her eyebrow. Ozpin sighed before turning his back, as he was about to leave. "It's due to an accident that happened one month before the ban. Details are classified. Now then, I have other matters to attend to." The white haired man said before walking out of the room.

_'Did she play a role in this incident? Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out.__' _Ozpin thought as he went to the dormitories of the teachers. Going past Glynda's room, he stopped at the door at the end of the hallway. Normally, a room in the teacher's dorm has the name of the resident labeled on the door. However, this specific room has no label at all.

The white haired man placed his hand on the knob and twisted it, opening the door and stepping into 'her' room. "Did your parents ever taught you to knock before you enter?" He turned his head to the right to see a girl in a wheelchair, scribbling something on a piece of paper on her somewhat tidy yet messy desk. The headmaster chuckled as he went to the girl's side to check on what she's working on. "It doesn't really matter."

The girl rolled her eyes and continued to write. Just as he was about to take a peek at what she's writing, she suddenly snatched his glasses. "Don't. Even. Think about it." The disabled girl growled. Ozpin merely rolled his eyes and smiled. "I already know. You're sending it to Mr. Arc."

"And? What of it?" "I understand that he has great potential, but he's already getting help from Ms. Nikos. You don't have to be a part of this." He stated, retrieving his glasses and putting it back on. "You don't understand. His potential is unimaginable. If Jaune's skill level is on par with everyone else his year, then he can beat almost everyone. Even Pyrrha Nikos."

The elderly man sighed. "I believe you're overestimating him." "Maybe. But it is possible. If..." "If he uses supercharged dust. Do you really think he can handle it?" Ozpin cuts her off, questioning the girl. "Well, he fits the criteria, so what would you expect?" Ozpin pondered over everything the crippled girl had stated and simply sighed. He then walked to the doorway to make his leave but turned to the girl one last time.

"Just don't make things end up like last time."


End file.
